


Sooner or later you're feeling the fire get hotter and hotter

by thebabytiger



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 19:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3702681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebabytiger/pseuds/thebabytiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She hadn't been undercover for so long that she was certain she could take a run in with the Sunshine Gang while also in the company of the Queens of Darkness. "The others don't matter," Mal's voice comes, dismissive but surprisingly close to her ear and the brunette turns her head swiftly to face the woman beside her. The sudden move puts her nearly nose to nose with the taller woman. The scant space between them shrinks ever so slightly. "Let me help you." Red lips tilt slightly in invitation, the prompt clear.</p><p>Dragon Queen - Granny's Diner</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sooner or later you're feeling the fire get hotter and hotter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [phoenix_cry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenix_cry/gifts).



> For Steffi, who gave me a prompt:
> 
> "Btw, as a prompt, I'd kinda like to see Mal just planting one on Regina in the middle of Granny's Diner. Because that would be hot. And hilarious. (I'm imagining Snow's face and I'm laughing madly)"

Regina glanced towards the closing door to Granny's diner, looking away again as all of the Charmings filed in through the door. She normally didn't mind the group, as unfortunately lots of exposure had mostly made her immune to them anything else she had previously disliked and found annoying, but in her current company it wasn't necessarily something that she wanted to have to deal with. She hadn't been undercover for so long that she was certain she could take a run in with the Sunshine Gang while also in the company of the Queens of Darkness. Especially since part of Regina was still really very concerned that she would be discovering, any moment, that Snow White still could not keep a secret, not even when it was for her own benefit. The last time, Daniel had died. This time, it would be Regina herself. 

She had hoped that the casual glance would remain unnoticed, if she made it quickly enough and if Snow could manage, for three seconds, not to be a total idiot, but she felt the weight of blue eyes settle onto her skin and stifled a sigh. The only saving grace about that particular moment was that the Charmings each spared her only an unhappy glance, and that Emma had seemed to half-usher everyone to a table across the room quickly enough to put a stop to whatever else could have happened. Regina was feeling more and more grateful, and at the same time annoyed, by how perceptive Miss Swan was being in this situation, as it seemed that the only one who understood even a portion of the sheer volume that was being asked of her was Emma, who didn't even know the entire story. Her parents, who did know all the facts, hadn't seemed to spare much thought towards her once she had agreed, and she had a feeling that if anyone was going to mess things up for her, it would be those two.

And the knowing gaze that still caressed her skin reminded her that she didn't have a very large margin for error. She was being watched constantly, both Cruella and Ursula mistrustful of her motives and suspicious of her assistance and presence within her group. She had pushed for answers carefully, but always seemed to be making enough tiny mistakes that the pair across the table from her were still on high alert when around her. That is, when they weren't bickering over the remaining french fries on a shared plate like an old married couple.

"Don't look at me like that," she muttered to Mal, the standard note of caustic irritability leaking into her voice as she fought her urge to meet the gaze. She really didn't want to make this situation a bigger deal than it needed to be, or a bigger deal than it already was. It was not her usual style to try and fly under the radar, but she really wasn't able to afford attracting too much attention, and as long as the Sea Witch and her puppy weren't watching, she had a modicum of safety.

"It's hard for you, isn't it?" Mal responded, also keeping her voice low so that it would be more likely to go unnoticed by the still squabbling duo sharing their table. 

"What is?" Regina asked, finally allowing herself to turn and meet the gaze with an icy glare that she hoped would convince the woman to end her line of questioning. She had little belief that it would actually work.

"To have spent so much time trying to fit in with them, only to have them practically shun you the instant you choose to move tables? I'm not sure the Savior could have hustled them away any faster, frankly. How very," Mal visibly searched for a word, lips curled into a moue of distaste, "high school." 

"Yes, well maturity has never been one of the Sheriff's strong suits," Regina tried to point out, somewhat dismissively, but Mal, unfortunately, knew her better than that. Mal was one of her oldest friends from the Enchanted Forest, one of the only people she knew from her time there and hadn't really and truly come to odds with during that time. No, her history with Maleficent was actually fairly peaceful and not half as fraught with lies, half-truths, and manipulations as her relationships with all the others she had known from that time in her life. Of course, the most notable relationships were with Gold, and with Snow, and neither could be considered truly friendly even at the best of times. Mal, on the other hand, was something entirely different, and Regina would be kidding herself if she said that it made this job easier. The simple act of sitting at a table next to Mal was too filled with possible traps to make it easy to relax, even as the gentle body heat of the sorceress next to her, combined with the heady rush of memories, tried to lull her into that remembered sense of security.

"They have no regard for you as a person, Regina, unless you are doing something to forcefully capture it," Mal noted, voice hard as blue eyes leveled a narrow glare across the diner. "They may have allowed you to play nice with them for a time, but they aren't willing to give you the time of day when you're with them."

To an extent, Regina has to agree, and that glum realization softens the still-frosty expression she has been trying to maintain. She shivers as she feels Mal's eyes fall back onto her, the weight of the stare almost like physical contact and her body so attuned to it that it's a wonder she can focus on anything else. Time in this role is taxing, and she wonders which side will win her over when she finally does give in to utter exhaustion. 

"It smells like sheep in here," Cruella says derisively, casually slapping away Ursula's hand from one of the fries remaining on the plate. Regina is so focused on the dragon next to her that she jumps slightly at the words, the scornful phrase the only thing to indicate that Cruella has been even remotely aware of her surroundings. "This little establishment can be so incredibly horrid at times." The way she says it, she almost sounds regretful. "They'll let almost anyone in... such a pity." 

"Yes, well they likely think the same thing every time they see you in here," Regina points out, grateful for the momentary distraction, "as I'm sure the wolves that serve as management are thrilled to see you flaunting that fur coat at every turn." 

Far from looking chastised, the words only serve to make Cruella give a smug little grin as she reaches up to lovingly stroke the fur of her coat's lapel. Regina rolls her eyes as Ursula gives a small guffaw of laughter at the cheek. 

"It's probably best that we be going anyway," Mal drawls, her eyes the only thing that gave away any hint of amusement, or exasperation, at the duo's antics. "If you're quite done bickering over the fried food, that is." A single blonde eyebrow raises in silent judgement but neither woman is at all put off by it. 

"Yes, well we all have our little charades that keep us amused, darling," Cruella says with barely a blink. "Ursula likes to pretend that she can steal off my plate and you like to live in the past." Her gaze shifts lazily to Regina in an obvious message before she gives a small shrug, easily ignoring Ursula's half-hearted attempts to argue at least the first point, and stands, the darker woman just behind her. 

She makes it about two steps before realizing that there has been no corresponding movement from the opposite side of the table. "Go on ahead, I'm right behind you," Mal growls, posture somewhat tense as Ursula and Cruella exchange a glance before heading for the door. 

"Not all of us have had the luxury of thirty years of actually moving time to adjust to the world," she mutters when the door has finally closed behind the others with a soft bang and the tinkle of the bell above the door.

"We both know that's not what they meant," Regina said, unable to let it go so easily. It was really rather clear what the woman had been implying, for all that she liked to couch it behind pretty, accented phrases. "They meant -"

"You, yes," Maleficent admitted, a wave of her hand indicating that she didn't find herself overly concerned. "They're both rather convinced that I'm making a mistake in trusting you. They think you've gone soft, that you aren't one of us anymore after all these years playing house with the Heroes and the Savior's son."

"He's my son too," Regina manages to spit out through a suddenly dry mouth, but the words seem to have enough fire to them that Mal doesn't read the fear. 

"Yes, yes, I know. And that is precisely why I think you can be trusted," she explains carelessly. "Because I know you in a way that neither of them does." The words make Regina's face heat, uncommonly embarrassed at the reference to the often physical nature of their relationship. That had added yet another layer of complication to the already delicate undercover situation, had added yet another achingly familiar piece of history that would surely turn into a trap if given enough room to run rampant. But her hands were tied on that front, and it would run more or less wherever it liked with little ability (or will) on Regina's part to divert it. "And I know that every time they look at you without seeing," and Regina's eyes find the Charmings, eyeing her with ill-disguised concern, easily mistaken for suspicion, though trying to hide it behind covert glances, "that the fire in you burns just a little bit brighter, just a little bit hotter." And it does - Regina has been more than tired of having to prove herself, of having to bend to every whim of Snow White's, first because the little Princess was more a queen than the young Queen herself, and now because it was what nice people supposedly did. She wondered if Snow would ever realize that the favors she asked were disproportionately large. 

"The others don't matter," Mal's voice comes, dismissive but surprisingly close to her ear and the brunette turns her head swiftly to face the woman beside her. The sudden move puts her nearly nose to nose with the taller woman, who has invaded her personal space almost without her noticing and who doesn't tower over her quite as much when they are seated as she does when they are standing. "I can help you be seen, Regina, the way only someone who already sees you can." The scant space between them shrinks ever so slightly. "Let me help you."

Red lips tilt slightly in invitation, the prompt clear. The entire diner has faded away, and all Regina is truly aware of is Mal, in front of her, tempting her as always with the siren-song of companionship and assistance to get the nameless something that Regina has never stopped wanting, not since she was a little girl. She also knows, with the instinctive sense of Maleficent that she has had for long enough to know that it has yet to steer her wrong, that the dragon will wait, just out of reach, for however long it will take Regina to make up her mind. She knows that it should seem like the type of proposition that would require some thought, that she's no longer in the position to so flippantly make decisions in a single second, but the answer seems to be as obvious to Regina as anything ever has been. 

"Yes," she whispers, breathily voicing her consent to allow Mal's lips to close the distance between them, to allow the dragon to stake her claim. It has never come easily to Regina to let anyone claim her, but there is something about Mal, about the effortless charisma that the other woman so strongly exuded, that makes her yield easily to the blonde whenever she senses the taller woman's need for it. Quicker than thought, she melts into the kiss, into the feeling of slender fingers slipping into her hair and into the softness of a silk scarf tickling her own fingertips, and for a moment she could have been back in the Enchanted Forest again, alone with Mal once more in a mostly empty castle. 

"Good," Mal says, eyes shining with satisfaction as they finally pull apart. She ignores the stares they have earned from the entire diner as she takes a thumb to wipe sensually at the mussed lipstick at the corner of her mouth. "I'll give you a call this evening. I have something special in mind for tonight's little adventure." It's flippant and Regina is almost disappointed to realize they are once more talking about The Plan and not, in fact, about whatever debauched thing her mind had just managed to conjure. 

Unable to trust her voice, she gives a curt nod, eyes downcast as Mal rises from her seat, towering over her for a brief moment. Cool hands, deceptively so for a dragon, gently cup her face for a moment, thumbs stroking her cheekbones with something that could probably be considered tenderness were they anyone else's, and then Mal's shadow is replaced by the artificial lights of Granny's as the door closes behind the dragon with a sharp bang.

Regina finds herself wishing that she were able to say, with no hesitation or doubt, that she said yes to Mal only because of the undercover assignment. She reaches somewhat blindly for her purse, tossing bills on the table, and finally allows her fingers to travel towards smudged lipstick. 

She allows herself a single, pointed, stare at Snow's gaping mouth, still wide open in picturesque shock, and then rises from the table.


End file.
